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Now if youre a beginner and are working out without any guidance whatsoever, its probably best to just stick with the basic program. One of the worst things a young lifter can do is take advice from other beginners on message boards  they usually have all the advice and none of the experience.

Below is one beginner modification thats permissible, and effective. Its a subtle, easy way to add in some extra work on the main lifts without compromising the program or the philosophies it was built upon.

You perform a full-body routine, three days a week. Full body strength routines are the best way for novice lifters to quickly get strong, provided the program is non-retarded (i.e. adheres to an intelligent progression system).

Instead of just one main lift per workout (using the 5/3/1 set-up), two main lifts are used for additional weekly exposures. The second main lift, however, should not be performed 5/3/1 style; instead, use a standard 3 sets of 5 reps, starting at 55% of your training 1RM for the first set of 5 and increasing the weight by 10% each successive set.

Crap, now I have a decision to make. Thanks JTurner for ruining my weekend...

Joking. About ruining the weekend, I still have a decision to make. I was actually thinking of doing something similar to the Reg Park routine I did last year only using the 5/3/1 protocols for the Big 4.